Modern motor vehicles have a multitude of components that must be assembled and stored in the vehicle. A problem that has arisen in many modern vehicles is that to minimize overall body size and to increase vehicle features the space in the engine compartment has become premium. This being the case, there has been a movement to place some components that had been previously mounted in the engine compartment in the passenger compartment. The areas most conducive to such storage within the passenger compartment are the areas below the passenger seats. If components are not mounted here then the area below the seats often goes unutilized or under utilized.
There have been a few designs for under seat compartments, but they have often required the removal of the seats to service the stored components. The removal of the seats has become disadvantageous as more features are added to vehicle seats. Seats with more features generally have more electronics routed through them so that owner removal of the seats is unwanted. Therefore, the old storage compartments that require the removal of the seats to service the stored components are no longer advantageous.
Consequently, storage compartments under the seats must allow access through side doors so that the stored component may be slid out from under the seat. Thus a solid, or unmovable, storage area must contain a door that is secured to contain the vehicle component. Therefore, it is desirable to provide the storage compartment with a passive restraining device that will ensure the component is properly secured in the storage compartment even without a standard securing device.